


Quest for Korriban

by thewightknight



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Mummy AU, Reference to Torture, inappropriate non-sexual use of the force, the sass is strong with this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-16 08:31:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7260211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewightknight/pseuds/thewightknight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stumbling on an ancient Sith site, Ben Solo discovers that which should not be disturbed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Progogue

**Author's Note:**

> **AUTHOR NOTE:** THIS FIC IS NOT ACTUALLY FINISHED, despite what the chapter count says, but there was so little readership that I've closed it out and moved on to other things.
> 
> A Mummy/TFA crossover. Thanks to [withthingsunreal](http://withthingsunreal.tumblr.com/) for letting me run with her idea.
> 
> Characters will be added and tags updated as the story progresses.
> 
> I made a [moodboard ](https://thewightknight.tumblr.com/post/156555485928/quest-for-korriban-stumbling-on-an-ancient-sith)for this au! If you like the story, please consider reblogging?

_The fight was brief and bloody and Phasma watched in satisfaction as her stormtroopers dealt with the intruders. Even with the advantage of the shelter provided by the ruins her troopers’ superior marksmanship picked them off one by one. One man managed to elude their blasters and slipped away into the night, disappearing and reappearing in the whirling sand._

_“Should we go after him, Captain?”_

_“No need. The desert will see to him for us.”_

_There was one last flash of fiery hair as the man crested a dune before he disappeared into the night._


	2. The Map

Why couldn’t his uncle re-shelve his own holocrons, Ben wondered for the umpteenth time as he nearly dropped his armful. He’d be having an easier time of it if he hadn’t grabbed so many at once, but smaller loads meant more trips into Luke’s office, which meant more sad stares, or, if Luke waxed pedantic, another interminable lecture as to why his own personal research had gotten nowhere. 

No, it was easier to juggle his over-full armload and decrease the amount of time he had to spend in his uncle’s presence, he told himself as he stretched to place the holocron on tauntaun anatomy in its proper slot on the top shelf. Luke had purposely constructed shelves that were just a bit taller than Ben’s comfortable reach, he was sure, part of his uncle’s plot to make him exercise his powers. Why else would Luke consistently pull so many holos that Ben couldn’t reshelf without the use of a ladder or the Force? Well, he’d show him. He tried to give himself that extra inch he needed to slide the cube into place and he would have gotten it, he really would have, if the other cubes hadn’t shifted in his grasp and the top ones hadn’t started to fall. 

He tried to catch them, both physical and with the Force, but when he lunged for the last one he hit the corner of the shelf. Of course it was the one shelf that balanced precariously, leveled off with a shim under one corner and the shim took that moment to wiggle loose and Ben watched in horror as the shelf began to fall. He reached out, catching it, just barely managing to hold in place, and that’s when Rey popped up next to him.

“Wow. That doesn’t look good.”

His concentration broke and the shelf continued its downward path. He tried to catch it again, but it had already bumped the shelf next to it, which fell into the one next to it, and as he watched in horror one by one the shelves spilled their contents out onto the floor.

“Uh oh. That’s the biggest mess you’ve ever made. Uncle Luke’s going to be pissed.” Rey sounded almost admiring.

“You could have helped me catch it,” Ren grumbled. 

“Sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry at all. He tried to be mad at her, but when she looked up at him with that blazing smile of hers he couldn’t manage it.

“Well, at least help me clean up?”

“Later. You’ve got to see this.” She started to reach into her satchel and Ren rolled his eyes.

“Rey, you’ve got to stop picking up all this junk. It’s never anything and whenever you make me take it to Uncle Luke he makes me feel like a fool and the Jedi Council just rejected my application again. They say I don’t have enough experience in the field.”

“No, but this’ll make it all better, Ben. I promise!” 

“Oh, Rey, not another worthless trinket ….” He trailed off as she held up her find, a piece of metal, obviously ancient, octagonal in shape, inscribed with runes he didn’t recognize. 

“Where did you get this?”

She shrugged. “I won it in a sabaac game.” 

“Rey.” He could always tell when she was lying.

“What does it really matter, Ben? It’s something, isn’t it? Tell me I found something!” Her eyes glittered, that irrepressible excitement of hers shining through, dragging him along with her like it always did. He sighed and turned his attention back to the octagon. He did recognize the runes after all. Maybe. Well, they did seem familiar somehow, but he couldn’t place them. Grooves in the top radiating out from the center in a grooved pattern. It almost looked like it should open somehow, although from its weight it could have been solid. Something about one of the runes drew his attention. He couldn’t say what, but he as traced it with his finger, trying to figure it out, there was a slight click and the top unfolded, revealing a folded piece of flimsi within.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, Rey, but I think you’ve found something.”

Sweeping a space on the floor clear of scattered holocrons he unfolded it, spreading it open carefully. The flimsi was in good condition despite its apparent age, ink hardly faded. As he revealed more and more of it he felt his excitement grow.

“It’s a map!”

“A map to where?”

Ben traced the writing across the top of the map, fingers shaking as he translated the runes in his head.

“C’mon, Ben. You’re killing me here. What’s it a map of?”

“Korriban.”

A dry chuckle interrupted their moment.

“Well, look at this.” Ben looked up, guilty, to see his uncle leaning against the doorframe. “I didn’t realize we were reorganizing the library today.” Ben heard the amusement in Luke’s tone, but also felt the disappointment behind it. He pushed it aside, though, determined to make his uncle acknowledge Rey’s discovery.

“Uncle, you need to look at this.”

“I am looking, Ben.”

“No, not the holocrons. This!” He pointed at the map. “Rey’s found a map to Korriban.”

“Korriban? That old myth?” Luke’s amusement persisted, but now he had an air of dismissal about him that set Ben’s teeth on edge. His uncle never listened to him. This time it’d be different, he swore to himself.

“Look at the symbol embossed there. That’s the mark of the Supreme Leader, isn’t it?”

“Who’s the Supreme Leader?” Rey asked.

Luke rolled his eyes. “Again it becomes apparent how little you’ve listened to me over the years, child.”

Ben saw the rebellion flash in Rey’s eyes and hurried to speak before she started arguing with their uncle. 

“A powerful being, said to be a force behind the old Empire, although there are rumors that of him being ancient even then.”

“Yes, rumors. Rumors and legends, that’s all Korriban ever has been. No one has ever found any evidence of its existence, and many have tried. Most have never returned.”

Ben started to protest and Luke cut him off with a wave of his hand.

“No, your time will be much better spent putting my library back in order. Rey, I think you should assist your brother, as you seem to have too much time on your hands if you’re digging up such nonsense.”

They both tried to protest, but it was no use. Luke had already gone.

“It’s not nothing. I know it’s not. I can feel it!” 

“I know, Sunshine.” She scrunched up her nose at the old nickname and he stuck his tongue out at her, earning a giggle. “Okay, so now why don’t you tell me where you really got this?”


	3. The Bargain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey trace down the man who could possibly lead them to Korriban.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags updated, end notes explain why.

“I wish you really had won this thing in a sabaac game. The thought of you wandering around down here will give me nightmares.” 

“I think I can handle myself, Ben.”

Shaking his head, Ben shouldered his way through the crowds, clearing a path for them. 

“Picking the pocket of a man who’s single-handedly taken out half the Guavian Death Gang could have been more than even you can handle if he’d caught you, little sis. Not to mention how Uncle Luke would react if he found out you used the Force to do it. Let’s just hope Bala Tik got my message and they haven’t finished this guy off yet.” Rey got that mulish look on her face, the one that said she wanted to argue with him even though she knew he was right, but she didn’t get a chance.

“There he is!” 

Bala Tik turned at the sound of Ben’s voice, sneering as they approached.

“This better be good, Solo.” Ben winced at the venom in his voice. He didn’t know what had happened between the gang leader and his father and he didn’t want to know. It was just Han’s legacy making his life more difficult, as usual.

“We just need a word with that man you caught, that’s all.”

“A word. Huh. Sure that’s all it is?” Bala Tik leered at him. “He’s a bit of a looker, after all. Or at least he might be under all the bruises.”

“Just a word. Really.”

Bala Tik didn’t say anything in response. He just held out his hand. Ben rolled his eyes, but dug into his pocket and dropped a handful of credits into the outstretched palm. When Bala Tik didn’t move he added to the pile. Looking down at the credits, Bala Tik made a show of shifting the coins in his hand before wrapping his fingers around them.

“C’mon, then.”

They followed the gang leader through a maze of winding back streets to a nondescript building. Bala Tik rapped his fingers on the door in a complicated code and a narrow window shot open. Ben could feel eyes on them and wrapped his fingers around his lightsaber as they waited, breathing a sigh of relief as he heard bolts release. The door opened onto a dark hallway and Bala Tik led them down a narrow set of stairs. Noise echoed up the corridor and one voice in particular carried over all of it.

The Guavian Death Gang had their own private cantina, Ben saw as they emerged. Gang members had draped themselves across the bar and sprawled in booths scattered across the floor. A good many of them sported bruises and bandages and were drowning their pain in alcohol. On the stage where you’d expect to see a band instead the spotlights focused on a single man strapped to an old Imperial interrogation chair. In the dim room his brilliant red hair shone like a beacon.

“There you go, then. Make it quick. We’ve got plans for this arsehole.”

Ben could feel the eyes on them as they crossed the room but he paid them no mind, focused on the figure in front of him. His red hair was long and Ben had a fleeting thought, imagining what it would feel like to sink his fingers into it. His features were hard to make out under the bruising and the scruffy beard that covered face, but his sharp cheekbones and lush lips still stood out. The upper one, split and scabbed, cracked open again with a sneer as they approached. Ben could hear the old chair creak as the man struggled against his restraints. He was tall, Ben realized as he mounted the platform, almost as tall as Ben himself. He looked slender but he had muscle on that bony frame. In the lights his eyes were a bright green.

“Well, get on with it then,” the man spat, and Ben realized he’d been staring.

“Oh, yes, er,” he stammered. “My sister and I found something we think belongs to you and we’d like to ask you about it.”

“Is that all, then? Pity.” He lay back on the chair, eyes half closed. He still watched them, though. Ben could feel him feigning disinterest as Rey reached into her satchel. When she held out the puzzle box the act disappeared. He lunged towards them, hands clenching and unclenching under the restraints.

“Where did you get that?” he snarled. He’d bloodied his wrists trying to escape, Ben couldn’t help but notice. A trickle ran down the side of one hand. Ben tore his eyes back up.

“Er, she found it in the street this morning.”

“Did she then?” Disbelief was strong in the man’s voice. “And how did she know it was mine, then?”

“Well, you did make a bit of a commotion about losing something.” Ben gestured behind him.

“Hmph.”

“C’mon, Solo. Speed it up. We’ve got plans for this boy!” Bala Tik called out from the audience. He pointed a remote at the chair and the man writhed in pain for a few seconds, muscles straining as he held in a scream.

“It’s your damn fault I’m here, it seems, so you better damn well get me out of here,” the man hissed after the current switched off.

“Wait, what? This isn’t our fault.”

“Isn’t it? If your sister hadn’t stolen that from me I wouldn’t have gone after this lot.”

“Hey, I didn’t steal it from you!” Rey protested. When Ben stared at her she scrunched in on herself. “I stole it from the kid that stole it from him. I stole it back!” 

Ben couldn’t decide if that was better than a sabaac game or not. He’d think about it later.

“First you have to tell me. Is it real?”

The man scowled at him. “Is it real? Seriously? Do you think I’d have gotten myself into this fix for a fake?”

“So it’s really a map to Korriban? How can you be sure?”

“Because I found it at Korriban.”

“You were there?”

“Yes.”

“You were actually at Korriban?”

“Did I stutter?” 

“You swear?” 

“Every damn day.” 

Ben shook his head. Strapped to a chair, beaten within an inch of his life, tortured, and the man could still sass him. Unbelievable.

“Could you tell me how to get there?” He tried not to let his amusement or his desperation show through in his voice.

The man’s eyes shifted, a secretive gesture. “Maybe.”

Ben’s pulse quickened. “Tell me.”

“Why?”

He didn’t have time for this. He hated to do it, but he tried to center himself, and spoke again. “You will tell me how to get to Korriban.”

“No I won’t. Not like this.”

Ben tried again. “You will tell me how to get to Korriban.” He could tell he still hadn’t gotten it quite right, but the man’s expression changed slightly, softened. His eyes flicked to the gang behind Ben and then back to him.

“Come closer.” Ben hesitated and he scoffed. “Afraid of a bound man, are you?” Stiffening, Ben leaned in.

“Closer,” he repeated. Maybe it had worked a little bit? Ben rolled his eyes but leaned in farther, until he could feel the man’s breath on his cheek. Instead of speaking again the man lunged forward, planting his lips full on Ben’s. Ben froze for an instant as his brain short-circuited and then jumped back, blushing. 

“Get me the hell out of here and I’ll take you there,” the man hissed and then Bala Tik hit the remote again. Ben stood helpless as he thrashed in pain and Rey poked him in the ribs. 

“We’ve got to do something, Ben!”

Ignoring the laughter as he jumped down off the stage he pushed his way through the crowd that had gathered and did his best to look uncaring as he made his way over to where Bala Tik stood.

“Time’s up, Solo. Yours and his.”

He didn’t let himself look back as a hoarse cry sounded behind him.

“How much to let him go?”

That earned him a snort of laughter. “Are you serious? Do you know how much he cost us in bacta alone? Not to mention the stain on our reputation. No, Solo, he’s going down.” He raised the remote again and Ben grabbed him by the wrist. All the humor drained from Bala Tik’s face and he could hear the stir behind him, could feel the blasters that were now aimed at his back.

“You always throw my father in my face, Bala Tik. You seem to have forgotten about my grandfather.” With a wave of his hand the table shuddered, levitating a few inches. He heard Rey gasp behind him, felt sick to his stomach himself, bringing it up, but it had the desired effect. All the color drained from Bala Tik’s face and he gestured frantically. One by one, Ben saw blasters drop, pointing towards the floor instead of him.

“That’s better.” He let go and took a step back. “Now that man has information I need. Valuable information. Let him go and I’ll cut you in.”

“Oh, like I haven’t heard that before. No, Solo, I’m not going to be taken in by one of your mad schemes. Talk about your grandpa all you want. This bullshit is exactly the kind of thing I’d expect from your father’s son.”

Okay, time to try another tack. 

“A thousand credits to let him go.” He could scrounge that up, easy. 

“Hah. Try a hundred thousand and maybe I’ll think about it.” 

“Five thousand, then.” Another cry rang out, this time almost a scream.

“You’re serious about this.” He schooled his expression under Bala Tik’s scrutiny. “What’s he got, then, that you’re so worked up about.”

Weighing his options, Ben shrugged internally. He couldn’t see another other way. “He knows the location of Korriban.”

That got him. He could tell. There was posturing and bargaining but eventually Bala Tik agreed. As one of the gang members freed the man from his restraints Ben caught his eye, and couldn’t help the grin that crossed his face at the fleeting glimpse of respect in the man’s expression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a mild torture scene in the middle of this, Hux strapped to an interrogation chair. Nothing graphic, but I wanted to warn readers just in case.


	4. The First Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two force users, a gang leader and a mystery man walk into a freighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to get people from point A to point B is always a challenging exercise, and even more so when you're adding in fun things like interstellar travel.

“I don’t think he’s going to show up.”

Rey emphasized her words with a sharp staccato, her heels drumming against the sides of the crate where she’d perched.

“If he doesn’t we’ll just have to go it alone. We’ve got the coordinates for the planet from the map. Once we get there, there’s got to be some kind of resonance in the Force we can use to help us find Korriban.”

Considering the frequency with which his thoughts had kept replaying that kiss, Ben had been warring with himself for the past two days, trying to decide if it would be a good thing or bad if this Hux split on them instead of making their rendezvous. 

“We might be better off without him. After all, we don’t know anything about him.” Rey mirrored his thoughts. “I mean, he could be some complete scoundrel. Some unwashed, uncouth can of corrosion.”

“Sounds like a horrible person. I hope we don’t run into him.”

Both of them started at the voice, turning in unison. The only thing that identified the person standing behind them as the man they’d rescued from the Guavian Death Gang were the startling green eyes and the healing cut on his lip. Gone were the ragged clothing and long disheveled hair. Now he was neatly combed and plaited and his beard had been trimmed and shaped, hugging the curve of his jaw. His torn and dirtied clothes had been replaced with a tailored brown leather jacket, belted at the waist and falling just past his hips, over crisp khaki trousers. He had a blaster strapped to one hip, and from the look of it probably had one in a shoulder holster as well. 

It was hard to say which more blinding, the polished leather boots or the hints of the starched white shirt that peeked out from his jacket at neck and wrists. And that hair. Ben’s fingers itched to sink into it, pull it loose from that trim braid. He gave himself a mental shake. No time for that, he scolded himself. And he really needed to stop staring too. Say something, Ben. Anything, he thought. 

“Well, you cleaned up nice.” Yeah, that was smooth there. 

Hux gave him an up and down, one corner of his mouth twitching. “Can’t quite say the same of you, can we?”

Ouch. Well, yes, his shirt could use a bit of pressing, and he might have spilled a bit of caf on it this morning, but still.

“Is this our ship, then?” Hux nodded towards the freighter berthed behind them.

“It is.”

“Charming.”

“Much like yourself, yeah?” Hux’s eyes widened at the sound of Bala Tik’s voice as the gang leader poked his head out from the loading bay.

“What’s he doing here?” His fingers caressed the holster of his blaster as he glared at Tik.

“One of the conditions of your release, I’m afraid. He’s coming along. For some reason, he doesn’t trust either of us.” Ben shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. He hadn’t been able to get Tik to budge on this, his father’s legacy biting him in the ass again. “It could be worse.”

“How so?” Hux asked.

“It could be Bala Tik and his whole gang.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get a move on.” Tik banged his hand on the side of the ship and ducked back into the hold again.

"Look, er, Hux, before we spend a week cooped up in this piece of junk with a gang leader of questionable morals and worse personal hygiene, can you guarantee this isn't some wild bantha chase?" Ben tried not to flush at the look Hux gave him at the question. He also tried not to stare at the smattering of freckles he'd just noticed on Hux's nose and cheeks.

"All I can tell you is that map leads to a ruin on a planet at the edges of nowhere, crawling with something that almost made me believe in that mystical Force bullshit, and most of our expedition didn’t survive." With that, Hux shouldered his bags and headed up the gangplank. 

"See something you like there?" Ben realize he'd been staring and scowled at Rey as he followed Hux into the freighter. That jacket did accentuate his trim form, though.

The _Vagabond_ had seen better days but the hyperdrive, while slow, seemed to be well-maintained. Hux kept to his rooms for most of their week in transit, ducking out only to grab meals and take them back, avoiding all of Ben's attempts to draw him into conversation. Ben tried, but he couldn’t get a read on him. He could normally sift through someone’s surface thoughts to get a sense of their emotions, at least, but Hux proved impenetrable. 

In boredom he let Rey talk him into a marathon sabaac game, and she let him talk her into sparring in the freighter's hold. He caught a flash of red hair out of the corner of his eye at one point while they were grappling but when they took a breather Hux had disappeared again.

Their destination existed as a series of letters and numbers on a star map. According to Hux the locals called it Shivra. There were four major continents and several strings of island chains dotting the waters between them. Hux overlaid their map over the ship's scans. "The ruins you want are here.” He pointed to a spot along the coast of the largest continent. “The terrain is too irregular to land for kilometers around our destination and there aren't any settlements anywhere near there. The planet only has one spaceport, if you could call it that. It’s a slab of duracrete in the middle of a godsforsaken desert here.” He indicated a spot roughly in the center of the continent. “We'll need to land there and hire a barge. We should be able to get it to take us to this point and then we'll have to purchase mounts.” He traced his finger along the map, following what looked like a deep canyon to a spot still some distance from the coast. “The locals won't go past this outpost. They view this area with suspicion, and rightly so in my experience. Services are hotly contested and fuel is dear but we shouldn’t need to worry about it if you’ve stocked up according to my specifications.

"Mounts? What about speeders?" Rey asked. Machines she could fix, Ben knew, but relying on living, breathing, eating and shitting beasts to get them where they needed to go added a layer of uncertainty to this already farkled journey, and she projected her discomfort so loudly it surprised Ben no one else felt it.

"Tech doesn't do well out in the wastes. The local beasts can feed themselves on scrub and retain water well enough that we won't have to worry about them for several weeks."

"I still say we should try just flying in." Tik had been insistent on this and Ben had reluctantly overruled him, siding with Hux. He was still bitter about it, obviously still waiting for Ben to cheat him somehow.

"Yes, and in the likely event something goes wrong with the ship we'll be stranded out there with no reliable transport back to what passes for civilization and even worse no way off the planet until some other ship comes along and we can try to wheedle passage." Hux stared Tik down and Tik relented, scowling.

"How'd you make it back, then?" Ben asked.

"I almost didn't." 

Ben waited, but instead of volunteering any more information Hux turned to leave. 

“Look, Hux. It’d really help if you’d be a little more forthcoming here.”

“No, it really wouldn’t.”

As he walked out Ben caught Rey rolling her eyes at his back.

“You’ve got yourself a real charmer there, brother mine.”

“Wait, what? I don’t have anything! Anyone, I mean.” Ben protested, and she shook her head.

He would have tried protesting more but Tik cut in.

“Sis’s got a point, though. You’re the one that’s most likely to get him to spill. So why don’t you trot along and go bat those big brown eyes at him or I don’t know, suck faces some more and see what else you can get out of him. Roger?”

Ben didn’t realize he’d tensed up until Rey put a hand on his arm, but her touch pulled him back before things started flying. He focused on his breathing, as Luke had taught him, and forced himself to relax. Squeezing her hand briefly, he set off after Hux.

As he left he heard Tik start to say something, but it cut off with a yelp. Rey’s scolding tones followed him through the corridor.

Hux hadn’t retreated to his room this time. Ben found him pacing in front of the aft viewport. He hadn’t heard Ben approach, and for once his thoughts weren’t tightly guarded.

“You’re scared. Of what happened at Korriban, and what we’ll find when we return.” The words slipped out without conscious thought and Hux whirled, glaring at him, fists clenched.

“Nonsense,” he growled, turning his back on Ben to stare out the port, leaning his elbows on the ledge. 

“No use denying it. I can sense it.”

“You’re not claiming to have mystical powers now, are you?” Hux sneered.

In response, Ben concentrated, and Hux jumped when the tip of his braid rose up and tickled his ear. Hux jumped, batting at the side of his head, swearing in disbelief when he realized what Ben had done.

“Yes, I’m claiming to have mystical powers.” Ben winked as Hux glared at him again. He had a white-knuckled grip on his braid, but the end stuck out of his fist and Ben couldn’t resist. With a twitch of his fingers he curled it up around Hux’s fingers and Hux let go with another curse. Trying to keep Hux from storming off he let out the first words that popped into his head. “Why the long hair, if you don’t mind my asking? The rest of you is so ….” He trailed off, realizing he didn’t know how to finish that sentence in a way that wouldn’t incriminate him.

Hux tossed the braid back over his shoulder with a shrug. “Because I can.” 

He didn’t offer anything else, but he didn’t leave either, which Ben had expected. He tried to think of something else to say to keep the conversation going, but small talk had never been his strong point. Well, nothing for it then but to be straightforward.

“Why’d you come, then, if you’re so reluctant to go back?” He got a surge of resentment from that and winced.

“Do you really think so little of me? I offered you a bargain and you kept your end. I’m alive now because of you.” 

“Why’d you kiss me then?” He hadn’t meant to ask that but it slipped out.

Hux gave him a lopsided smile. “I didn’t think you’d actually come through, so I figured why not. One for the road, so to speak.” Hux tipped an imaginary hat to him and sauntered off, leaving Ben gaping at his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am satisfying my own need for long haired Hux in this chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come say hi on [tumblr](http://thewightknight.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
